Aníbal José "Jossie" Torres is a Puerto Rican

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

and lawyer affiliated with the Popular Democratic Party (PPD). Torres has served in several positions of leadership within his party. He served as Secretary of the party during the 2000s, before being appointed as

Puerto Rico Chief of Staff The Chief of Staff of Puerto Rico ( es, Secretario de la Gobernación de Puerto Rico) is the highest-ranking officer in the executive branch of the government of Puerto Rico after the governor and the secretary of state. The Chief of Staff lead ...

by elected Governor

Aníbal Acevedo Vilá Aníbal Salvador Acevedo Vilá (born 13 February 1962) is a Puerto Rican politician and lawyer. He served as the governor of Puerto Rico from 2005 to 2009. He is a Harvard University alumnus (LL.M. 1987) and a graduate of the University of Puer ...

in 2005. After serving four years, he returned to his position as Secretary of the PPD, before deciding to run for the

Senate of Puerto Rico The Senate of Puerto Rico ( es, Senado de Puerto Rico) is the upper house of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, the territorial legislature of Puerto Rico. The Senate, together with the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico, control t ...

at the 2012 general elections.

Biography

Aníbal José Torres was born in Orocovis,

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

. He ran for mayor of Orocovis at the 2000 general elections. However, he lost to the candidate of the PNP, Jesús Colón Berlingeri, by less than 340 votes. Has a Juris Doctor degree from the

Eugenio María de Hostos School of Law The Facultad de Derecho Eugenio Maria de Hostos (English: Eugenio María de Hostos School of Law) was a law school located in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. The School was founded by Fernando Bayrón, Juan Mari Brás and Carlos Rivera Lugo in 1995. The ...

in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, and a B.A. in political science from the

Interamerican University of Puerto Rico The Inter American University of Puerto Rico (Spanish: ''Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico''; often abbreviated to ''UIPR'' or ''Inter'') is a private Christian university with its main campus in San Germán, Puerto Rico. It also has c ...

. After that, Torres served as Secretary of the Popular Democratic Party for several years. When

was elected Governor of Puerto Rico at the 2004 general elections, he appointed Torres to serve as his chief of staff. Torres served in this position until the end of Acevedo Vila's term in January 2009. After that, Torres returned to his position as Secretary of the party. However, he decided to run for the

, presenting his candidacy on October 12, 2011. At the 2012 PPD primaries, Torres was the second candidate to the Senate with most votes. Was officially elected as Chair of the Puerto Rico Popular Democratic Party on at the 2018 Puerto Rico Popular Democratic Party convention and served until 2020.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Torres, Anibal Jose Chiefs of Staff of Puerto Rico Interamerican University of Puerto Rico alumni Living people Members of the Senate of Puerto Rico People from Orocovis, Puerto Rico Popular Democratic Party (Puerto Rico) politicians Puerto Rican party leaders Year of birth missing (living people)